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What if your everyday care products were alive, therapeutic and regenerative?
NextSkins creates new living interfaces composed of layers with dedicated, specialised functions including protection, sensing, mechanical strength, regeneration, and therapeutic response. Our aim is to establish platform technologies to advance biological engineered living materials and make two proof-of-concept materials with different applications:
Living Therapeutic Material (LTM) and Living Regenerative Material (LRM).
We develop skin-inspired engineered living materials for everyday
“We collaborate with life in the interest of planet and society”
This is what we are working on:
We are generating novel living materials based on a grown matrix hosting engineered multicellular consortia that build and functionalise these different layers. Spatiotemporal patterning is realised by genetic control and the physicochemical properties of cells and biomolecules.
As a powerful strategy to accelerate the adoption of our living materials in society, we will systematically involve the potential end- users and designers in our research for the materials and product development to happen in synergy.
Living Theurapatic Materials for skin
Nextskins ELM 1
Living Regenerative Materials for protective applications
Nextskins ELM 2
Living Therapeutic Material (LTM)
We are developing a wearable therapeutic patch that actively responds to skin conditions.
The patch has three layers:
Core layer: made of a moist nanocellulose material (produced by safe bacteria) that contains living yeast cells. These cells can sense and react to signals from the environment.
Top layer: made of protective proteins and biomolecules produced by the yeast. This layer forms a barrier to stop the patch from drying out when worn.
Bottom layer: designed to work directly with the skin and its natural microbiome. It contains specially designed proteins that can detect harmful enzymes (often present in skin disorders) and then trigger responses in the core.
The whole material is grown from a mix of engineered yeast and bacteria, similar to those used in kombucha brewing. We aim to use this living material as a treatment for atopic dermatitis (eczema).
Living Regenerative Material (LRM)
The Living Regenerative Material (LRM) is a strong, impact-resistant material that offers clear benefits over common options like ceramics or plastics, especially for protective clothing.
What makes LRM special is that it can repair and strengthen itself in areas that experience stress or damage — something current materials and even other engineered living materials cannot do.
LRM is made using a sustainable and safe process, with only non-toxic, biocompatible components. It is built from biopolymers hardened with minerals and contains bacterial spores. Inside, its structure is layered on the microscale, similar to natural tough materials like bone, shell, or dentin.
Around the core is a protective activator shell, which keeps water out and "remembers" where the material has been stressed, enabling it to reinforce itself exactly where needed.
Main Work Packages
WP 1: Genetic Engineering
We are using the latest biotechnology to teach microbes like bacteria and yeast to grow and shape new smart materials. These materials can respond to their environment and repair or adapt themselves, opening the door to a whole new generation of sustainable, living products.
WP 2: Biomoleculair Design
We will use proteins inspired by nature, like those from fungi and spider silk, to give our living materials special qualities such as water resistance and strength. These proteins are made directly inside the materials by the microbes we engineer.
WP 3: Material fabrication and Characterisation
The Living Therapeutic Material (LTM) and Living Regenerative Material (LRM) are created in layers, each designed with a specific role such as healing, protection, strength, or self-repair. We will carefully study and improve their structure, performance, and sustainability to make these materials as effective as possible.
WP 4: Designing with Living Materials
In this work, we will focus on biodesign and the social impact of our NextSkins materials. We will create prototypes, explore the user experience, and develop tools to guide the design of Living Therapeutic and Living Regenerative Materials.
Background publications
Our lead team has authored multiple background publications addressing a diverse range of topics.
Dr. Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam
Prof. Markus Linder
Prof. Tom Ellis
Prof. Dr. Elvin Karana
NextSkins publications
Explore the publications produced by NextSkins in the course of its research.
SubtiToolKit
Surfacing livingness
Leveraging properties
Living artefacts
We thank EIC for funding our research
News
Here’s where we’ll keep you updated on our latest developments, breakthroughs, and behind-the-scenes insights. We’ve just published our first article—and there’s more to come. Stay tuned as we continue to share what we’re working on, the progress we’re making, and the ideas driving the future of sustainable skin-inspired materials.
